About the Image(s)

If you have been to Yosemite at any time of the year, you no doubt have been to Tunnel View. This very busy location affords the most expansive view up the Yosemite Valley, with iconic Half Dome in the background and this famous waterfall, Bridalveil, in the foreground off to the right side of your vantage point. On this day I shot many images of the classic valley-wide scene, but I also wanted to do something a little different, so I zoomed in tight at a special moment.

Shot with my Canon 5D Mark IV and my f/4 Canon 70-200 all the way out at 200mm. Exposure: ISO 100, f/11 at 1/125 sec. Our tour leader, Gary Hart, knew there would be a narrow window of time to shoot a waterfall rainbow late in the April afternoon--if we got the right weather conditions. As you can see, we got very lucky!

In post processing with Adobe Camera Raw, I set the profile to camera matching landscape, added 0.75 to the exposure, set the white point at +31 and the black point at -23. I made no adjustments with the contrast slider, but did make subsequent adjustments to add more contrast to the image. Highlights down -79, shadows up +27. White balance as shot (4,750 temp). Color adjustments: vibrance +21, saturation 0. With the effects sliders I added +19 texture, +31 clarity and -7 to dehaze. This had the effect of adding more definition to the to the granite edifice in and around the waterfall without overdoing it. Finally, I tried different aspect ratios for a crop and settled on 1X1--something new for me. This gave more prominence to the waterfall without making it feel too cramped. What do you think?

Visiting Yosemite can be a spiritual experience for any photographer. The Holy Grail is all around you! I will go back definitely, but prefer any season except summer (too crowded). Gary Hart has a blog post about shooting the rainbow at Bridalveil. Here is the URL if you would like to learn more: https://garyhartblog.com/2022/05/22/just-a-dash-of-rainbow/.